Some people take technical malfunctions with good humour. One of them is Desi, a black man, whose YouTube film about Hewlett-Packard's new MediaSmart webcam became viral after it showed that the camera can track users' face – except when they're black.

In the entertaining video Desi and his white co-worker demonstrate the face-tracking software on Hewlett-Packard's MediaSmart computer. The camera is supposed to pan and tilt in response to users' movements, and it immediately follows Wanda, a white woman, but remains focused on a single point when Desi enters the frame.

And Hewlett Packard's response? Rather commendable. Desi's tongue-in-cheek video has been taken seriously by the company, which announced in a blogpost that it would look into the issue, adding that other webcams can also struggle with lighting.

"The technology we use is built on standard algorithms that measure the difference in intensity of contrast between the eyes and the upper cheek and nose. We believe that the camera might have difficulty 'seeing' contrast in conditions where there is insufficient foreground lighting," Hewlett-Packard said.

Despite the accusations, Desi seems amused not only by the problem but by the fact that he had bought one of the computers for Christmas just before he found out about it.